A Precious Souvenir
by OBSESSiON xOo
Summary: Marisol and Horatio come back from their honey-moon with a something they didn't leave with. This is slightly AU, you'll be able to tell why for the most part.Calleigh/Eric & Marisol/Horatio. REVIEW please.
1. Uncle Eric

"Little brother!" The tall thin woman exclaimed, throwing herself at the man, her brother, before he could even get inside the house.

"Alright, alright. Mari, I can't breath." Her brother choked out, but he was smiling.

She loosened her grasp around his neck, but didn't let him go entirety. She pushed him back and took him in. He hadn't changed much since she had last seen him, about 2 months ago, but why would he. His hair had grown out a little bit more, and he was a little tanner, she had left at the beginning of the summer and returned at the end so this wasn't so surprising either, but his lopsided smile truly made her feel at home once more.

Marisol let out a contented sigh, "I missed you."

"I missed you too, both of you. Things have been slow around here while you guys were gone." He commented, moving his sister slightly and stepped inside the large houses foyer. Horatio never felt the need to spend much money on living expenses until he married Marisol.

"Because I'm so much fun to be around?" She joked, tossing her hair.

Eric bent his head slightly to be at eye level to her and said, "No, because Horatio is the best CSI the unit's ever had, and cases take longer to solve with him gone." but then he smiled and threw his arm around his sisters neck.

She playfully hit his stomach as he practically led _her _toward the living room, but she stopped him, turning and facing him once more, looking serious all of a sudden.

Eric peered over her head into the living room for a second, then met his sisters eyes. "What? What's wrong? Where's H?"

Marisol ignored his questions. "Eric, Horatio and I came back with a very..._precious s_ouvenir."

Eric tilted his head, reminding Marisol of her husband. "A precious souvenir? I don't follow."

"When we went to England, we were having lunch at this adorable cafe with an outdoor patio," Eric wished his sister wouldn't slip in unnecessary, girly details, but didn't rush her. "and across the street was an orphanage...We had just gotten our coffee's when there was this boom, I looked up and before I even realized the place was on fire Horatio was sprinting across the street toward the orphanage. He worked with the fire fighters like the hero he is," she smiled, not able to help herself. "I was worried, not being able to help, but things looked like they were going fine, it looked like most of the kids were out, but when the orphanage owner did a head count a little girl was missing-"

"Where's H," Eric asked again, panicked this time. "Did he get hurt in the fire?"

"Smoke inhalation," she waved her hand and dismissed it as something minor. Eric relaxed a little. "May I finish?" she looked a little bemused at her brothers devotion to his boss.

"Yeah. Yeah, go on."

"They tried to stop Horatio, the fire had gotten pretty bad, but he took off into the building again. The little girl was hiding in a closet, she was terrified, she's only 4, she wouldn't listen to them, she wouldn't come out. They were about to take her by force, but Horatio stopped them. He somehow coxed the little girl out. When they got out of the building they were both in pretty bad shape, but the little girl would _not_let go of Horatio. He had to go with her in the same ambulance. When I got to the hospital, she had fallen asleep, but still holding on to Horatio...he had promised her he wouldn't leave her." Marisol smiled knowingly.

Eric started guessing what the 'precious suoviner' was, and he wasnt sure if he liked it or not yet.

"Horatio and I fell in love with her, we visited her every day in the orphanage, and we wound up staying there our whole honeymoon, completely uninterested in traveling after meeting this little girl, Ella. But Horatio needed to get back here to the lab, you guys are lost without him..so we took her with us." She finished up quickly.

"You..kidnapped a little girl from England?!" Eric exclaimed.

She quieted him. "No, of course not. We adopted her! Horatio's badge got us through a little faster then usual."

Eric stared at her. She smiled nervously. "So let me get this straight. You get married on the spur of the moment, you buy a huge house, you go to travel Europe, Horatio becomes a foreign hero, and you two come back with a child? Unbelievable, Mari. Do you ever think before you act?"

Marisol looked hurt. "I...Eric, we love this little girl."

They stood there, in the doorway between the foyer and the living room, for a long time. Gradually Eric's scowl melted and he finally sighed. "Do I get to meet my niece then?"

Marisol beamed and grabbed her brothers hand, half dragging him toward the kitchen and then out the backyard.

The Delko-Caine's backyard was beautiful, to match their beautiful home. It was all green grass and flowered, except for a small kidney shaped pool in the corner and two willow tree's in the opposite corner. It was enclosed by a high white plastic fence, except at the end where the fence was low to expose the water front view. Horatio sat on a hammock stringed between the Willow's. A small girl sat tucked under his arm, and he held a book in the opposite hand, apparently reading to her.

When Horatio noticed Marisol and Eric walking closer, he said something to the girl and stood to meet them, the girl jumped up and followed at his heels.

"Eric." Horatio greeted.

"Nice to have you back, H" Eric, reached forward and grasped Horatio's hand.

The little girl reached Horatio's side and hid behind him, peering out at the strange man. Horatio picked her up and stepped closer to Marisol and Eric.

"Eric this is Ella, our daughter. Ella, this is your Uncle Eric." He said softly, jostling the girl a little.


	2. Settling Down?

The little glared at Eric, she had light brown curls down to her elbows, and bright blue eyes with a tan complexion. Looking quickly she could have passed for Horatio and Marisol's biological daughter.

"Hey, you." Eric smiled. Any resentment he felt toward Marisol for her quick decisions melted.

She didn't say anything back and sucked on her bottom lip.

Marisol looked a little distressed. "Ellie, say hello to uncle Eric." she encouraged.

Ella looked at Horatio, her father, and grunted, jerking back a little. He set her on the ground and she tentatively walked toward Eric. He crouched down to be at eye level with her. She looked into his eyes, then at Marisol, then back at Eric. She reached out a small hand and pulled Eric's nose and tugged at his ears.

"You look like mommy." she said simply.

"I'm...mommy's brother."

"He's your uncle, Ella." Horatio said, standing closer to his daughter and looking down at her.

"Uncle." she nodded and smiled in approval.

Eric laughed and picked up the girl. He missed when his other niece's were this small.

"Daddy, are _your_friends still coming over?" she asked, a little put out.

"Your Uncle is my friend, sweetheart. But were still going to have the party, yes." Horatio nodded.

They started walking back toward the house and Marisol took Ella, Eric fell into step with Horatio.

"If I had known this was a party, I wouldn't have come." Eric joked.

"I'm not one for parties either, but Marisol...well she has no limits." He smiled.

"Tell me about it. Anyone know about Ella yet?"

"No. We wanted you to be the first to know, Eric." Horatio glanced at Eric.

"Thanks, H. I still cant believe you adopted a little girl though.." he said quietly, momentarily embarrassed.

"Yes, well somethings, Eric, you just can't control."

Back in the house Marisol had set Ella on the kitchen island and was humming while grabbing different foods and plastic bowls out of the fridge and placing them on the counter. Horatio stood with one hand on Ella's small back making sure she didn't fall from the counter, but he was turned facing Eric who sat on a bar stool as his brother-in-law got him up to speed on the latest case.

"Calleigh can tell you about the bullets and gun or whatever when she gets here, i left in the middle of her 'experiment'." he made air quotes around the word experiment.

"She's a bright girl," Horatio commented absentmindedly. "Tell me, Eric, do you think this man is serial?"

"He's got to be, the sexual assault kits are coming up clean on all these kids. The guys still sick though. Killing kids.." Eric shook his head and blinked slowly.

"Sick indeed.."

"Whose killing kids, daddy?" Ella asked her eyes wide as she looked up at Horatio.

"No one you have to worry about." He said seriously, and set Ella on the ground. "Go play, sweetheart."

The kitchen was silent for a few moments.

"Oh, Eric!" Marisol turned to him apparently remembering something. "Ella was already baptized, but she doesn't have god-parents, obviously. And you of course are going to godfather." it wasn't a question.

Eric smirked, "Of course, Mari."

"Calleigh is going to be godmother." Horatio slipped in.

"Calleigh?" Eric asked, a little surprised, but not shocked.

"Calleigh is so sweet, I just feel like were leaving Natalia and Ryan out. And Frank, and Alexx..." Marisol frowned, she liked pleasing people.

"Don't worry about it. Speaking of, I promised Calleigh I'd pick her up from the lab, I took the hummer..." He stood up, kissing his sisters forehead and clapping Horatio on the shoulder. Ella came back into the kitchen.

"Are you leaving? Already?" She whined a little bit.

"I'll be back." he placed a hand on the girls head and she smiled up at him. She made him think seriously about settling down.

* * *

"Eric, hun, she's older then you, let her take care of herself now. After having to depend on you so much while she was sick, it would hurt her if you tried to _make_her depend on you." Calleigh said soothingly to Eric who had just told her about Ella.

"Yeah, I guess your right." He sighed.

"Of course I'm right." Calleigh laughed, her southern voice hitting Eric not only in his eardrums, and he laughed too.

"There's got to be some consequences for them though." Eric said returning to seriousness.

"There are, could you imagine trying to raise a family, given the hours we work."

Eric though about it for a second, his mind flashed to Ella. "Yeah, I could, defiantly."

"Really?" he could feel her staring at him, but he kept his eyes on the road.

"Yeah. Why, you don't think I'd be a good dad?" He flashed his lopsided smile at her, only taking his eyes off the road for a second.

"No, I think you'd be a great dad." she stammered apologetically. "I just never heard you mention anything about having children before."

"Well maybe when I find...the right girl." And Eric was glad she couldn't see inside his head, because the right girl in his mind was her.

After she didn't say anything, he was glad Marisol and Horatio's _estate_was coming up next exit, he told her about them being godparents.

"Really?! Wow that's amazing. Wow.." her smile stretched across her face.

"It is. And wait until you meet Ella. She's adorable and apparently loves people. Except firefighters..." he smiled at the comment.

They pulled up to the house. "Why not firefighters?"

"It's a long story. Make sure Mari doesn't tell it to you."

She looked bewildered at his suggestion, and he laughed. Little did he know, his laugh hit her someplace other then her eardrums too.


	3. Welcome home party

**A/N:** _IMPORTANT!_ Whoa I actually got reviews. That's so cool to me! Any who, I know the spelling is bad, but I'm awful at spelling and I only have word-pad on my computer, not Microsoft, BUT if I'm spelling character names wrong tell me! I also have no idea when this story is taking place series wise. But I said it's AU so just pretend Marisol and Horatio didn't get married until recently in the series? And that Kyle isn't around? Also, I tend to get caught up in my story and I just want to get to certain parts so I rush through the little details, sorry!

**Disclaimer:**I DON'T OWN ANYTHING (sadly)

* * *

"What took you so long? Everyone else already got here!" Marisol said as soon as she opened the door.

Calleigh smiled at her, "Sorry, blame Gramma over here." Calleigh jerked her thumb in Eric's direction with a wink at Marisol

He held up his hands in mock defeat. "It's my fault. I stopped to get this." He held up a present he had bought for Ella, he always bought things for his other nieces and he felt he should do the same for Ella no matter how unorthodox her addition to the family was.

Marisol closed the door behind them. "Buying your way into my daughter's heart!" She pretended to swat angrily at him.

"Guilty." He stated simply, smirking a little, so that his lips just formed a crooked smile. Little did he know Calleigh's smile widened unintentionally when she caught sight of it.

"Come on, come on. Everyone's outback, the CSI Wolfe helped Horatio put out tables since _someone_darted off then showed back up late!" She fake-scolded them again. He and Calleigh exchanged eye-rolls and couldn't help but smile.

Catching sight of the backyard Eric made a mental note to apologize to Ryan. There had to be about a dozen white plastic tables set up, and even more plastic chairs they must have been a bitch to set up.

Everyone Horatio was friendly with from the lab was already scattered around the lawn. Eric caught sight of Horatio chatting with Tripp, Ella in one arm and a drink in the other. He was momentarily dumbfounded to see his boss acting so casually. Alexx was bent over, firmly talking to one of her kids while her husband manned the grill with Ryan. He noticed Natalia standing somewhat awkwardly by herself with a drink in her hand, but she lit up and relaxed when she seen Calleigh. A few of Marisol's friends from her cancer-support group were floating around in the mix as well, some sporting durags and wigs, but others with chin length hair who he assumed, like Marisol, had recovered. It was a normal lazy summer Sunday-afternoon cook-out. Well except for the fact that more then half of them were carrying a concealed weapon.

Calleigh touched him lightly on the shoulder and walked with Marisol down the path from the backdoor, the two of them talking happily. He watched them go for a minute but then shook his head and went to give Ella her present. When he got close he caught snippets of Tripp and Horatio's conversation. They were still discussing the child-killer case.

Tripp nodded to Eric, Ella smiled shyly from under Horatio's chin.

"Hi Ella, got you a present." he said simply passing the gift to the girl quickly, not knowing how else to go about giving a present to a little girl he barely knew.

"It's not my birthday.." The 4-year old said confused. Her mouth opened almost too animatedly and it made her look adorable and her English toddler accent just added to it.

"Sometimes, sweetheart, people give you presents just because your special to them." Horatio said softly. He set Ella down on the grass with her present and she opened it with her eyes occasionally drifting up to Eric.

When she got off the mall-wrapped exterior she lit up. "Daddy! A metal-dog!" She said holding up the package for Horatio.

He looked at it puzzled but handed it back to Ella with a smile. "Very nice, Ella. What do you say to Uncle Eric?"

She looked at him then hugged one of his knees, which is as high up and the small girl could reach. "Thank you." she beamed at him.

Eric laughed and ran a hand down the girls hair. "Your welcome. But hey, see the pretty lady with the blond hair?" he got down on one knee to point out Calleigh to Ella.

She nodded.

"She helped me pick that out, if you get a chance you should say thank you to her too." he looked at the girl to gage her reaction to his suggestion. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

Instead she nodded again, stood on tip-toes to place her gift in Horatio's arms and ran off to thank Calleigh, her brown-blond curls whipping behind her.

Feeling oddly pleased with himself Eric excused himself from Tripp and Horatio's conversation, he wasn't working today and he didn't feel like hearing about a serial child-killer, especially not with his new found soft spot for his, unknown until that day, niece.

Walking over to the grill, he noted the white Christmas lights strung along the side of the plastic fence and worried how long the party was going to last. He wasn't so sure how long he could last at a Miami barbecue without incident with Calleigh and alcohol. Until this very fast paced and surprising day, he hadn't known how he felt about the pretty female CSI, but now that he was sure he truly liked her, he wasn't sure what to do.

Playing it safe, he siddled up along Ryan casually pulling a beer from the cooler next to the grill.

"Delko, hey." Ryan greeted, looking up from the grill momentarily.

"Hey. Sorry you had to set up all these tables. My sister guilt you into it?"

Ryan laughed quietly. "Sort of, but no hard feelings, man."

"The only woman I know who throws _herself _a welcome home party and uses it as an excuse to make sure people don't over react to her randomly adopted daughter." Eric said shaking his head.

"Give them a break, their happy at least. And look," he said gesturing vaguely to Ella with a spatula. "she's happy. And well adjusted, she even called me uncle.." he added with a chuckle.

_Wolfe's right.. _Eric thought. He watched Ella run with her arms outstretched in front of her, Calleigh close behind her bent over slightly to be a little closer to the girls height. He subconsciously commented that she would make a good mother someday.

"What are Tripp and Horatio talking about?" Wolfe asked. Eric tore his eyes from Calleigh quickly and dragged his attention to his brother in law and the detective. Tripp had one hand on his hip and was waving another one about angrily.

"Uh, the potential serial case." he answered

Ryan paused a few seconds. "Hey, can you watch the grill? I want to jump in, if this case is going to be big, I want to be on it." He passed the spatula to Eric without waiting for an answer and walked off toward the pair.

"He has a one sided mind, don't he?" Alexx's husband sighed, shaking his head.

Eric laughed. "Yeah, well he wouldn't be Ryan if he wasn't."

Alexx's son ran up to his father and started impatiently tugging his away.

He shrugged and said, "Kids." as if it didn't need an explanation, and truly it didn't. Once another human is that dependent on you, you don't have a choice anymore.

Finding himself completely alone in the corner of the yard with the grill, and not able to leave, he got lost in his own thoughts. So deep in his own thoughts, that when the hamburgers were almost done, and someone casually touched him on the shoulder, he almost punched them.

"Whoa!" Calleigh laughed at Eric's reaction.

Eric shook his head and took a steadying breath. "You scared me."

"Yeah, I can see that." she tried to keep a straight face, but you could hear the smile in her southern voice. "Need any help? I noticed you all by yourself and it just broke my heart." she said sarcastically.

"Nah, I got it." Truthfully, he wanted her to stay, but in his mind it was easier to talk to her before he decided he had feelings for her.

She didn't say anything, but she didn't leave either. She stood watching the rest of the yard.

"I know where I want to go on my honey-moon." She joked casually.

Eric looked up and followed her gaze to Ella before laughing. "England? Just do me a favor and don't rush into any flaming buildings, your not H."

She hit him playfully, then said seriously, "I know why they couldn't leave her. A half-hour and I would already give my life for that little girl!"

"Tell me about it. She's not shy that's for sure." He said, catching sight of Ella skipping in a circle around Natalia with Marisol laughing near-by, hanging off Horatio's arm.

"She sure isn't." Calleigh agreed. Eric snuck a peek at her, her eyes were still locked on Ella and he didn't catch her staring, but absence of mind leads to mistakes and he a stinging in his hand made him drop the spatula and jerk away from the grill.

"Ah!" he gasped, and popped his finger in his mouth without thinking.

Calleigh practically jumped. "What? What's you do?" she asked, and almost started laughing again when she noticed his finger in his mouth. "Burn yourself?" she asked condescendingly, but not being insulting. "Lemme see." she said, gently tugging at his wrist.

"Uh ah." he said from around his finger.

"Oh come on! You've been shot and your whimpering over a burn?" she placed a hand on her hip.

Eric laughed and dropped his arm to his side. Calleigh looked at him, and without taking her eyes off his raised his arm to her eye-level.

"Oh that's not that bad, you baby!"

"Baby!? I've been shot!" he stated, pretending to be offended.

They laughed, but then slowly stopped, still staring into each others eyes. His heart sped up and thoughts flashed threw him mind..

"Cahleee!"

Calleigh dropped Eric's arm and he self-consciously cleared his throat.

Ella stood before them, her tanned skin flushed and her chest moving up and down quickly, a huge smile plastered on her face.

She tucked a strand of damp hair behind her ear clumsily. "Hi, Un..cle Eric. Mommy wants to know...when is dinner?"

"Tell mommy to hold her horses." He replied.

Ella laughed, it was a cute tinkling noise between a babies laugh and a child's laugh. "Calleigh will you play chase with me again?"

Calleigh glanced at Eric, who was now powering down the grill, and putting the hot-dogs and hamburgers onto a large plate.

"Sure, sweetie." She agreed, regretfully leaving Eric.


	4. Gone

**A/N:** Ok, I skipped all my little details I wanted for this story and just dove into my main plot. This takes place a few days after Marisol threw her welcome home party. Thanks for all the good reviews I got!

**Disclaimer:** only Ella is my character, everything else belongs to CBS.

* * *

"Good Mornin'."

Eric looked up from the lab microscope to see Calleigh grabbing her white lab coat off the rack hanging up.

"Hey, your late." He wasn't mad though, and she could tell but offered an explanation anyway.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. Late night.." she sighed.

His heart dropped, but he didn't want Calleigh to know that. He forced a laugh.

She looked at him with disbelieving amusement, "Not like that! Horatio asked me to clean some of the gun's in the vault."

His heart sored, but once again he covered it up, acting casual. "Bullet girl.." he chuckled, looking back in the microscope. He heard Calleigh laugh her little tinkling laugh, and he smiled widely, glad for the cover of the microscope.

"What are you workin' on?" She asked moving closer and picking up the plastic evidence bag next to Eric's microscope.

"The child-killer sent a note to the lab. No return address, no distinctive markers to the naked-eye..." He said, not looking up from the microscope.

"Which is where we come in." She finished for him. "Do you know what the newspapers are calling him?"

Eric lifted his face from the microscope confused. "No...I didn't even know the case went public.."

"Yeah, Horatio released a statement to the press for any help in case. We're not getting much closer to a break, and kids are getting killed." She tucked a piece of blond hair behind her ear.

"And all the public can do is give him a name." It wasn't a question, it was a disappointed statement.

"Yep, their calling him the 'toddler snatcher'." She scoffed.

She and Eric met eyes. "The toddler snatcher?" his lower lip stuck out and his hands gripped the lab table.

"The sooner we get this guy the sooner it ends. You got anything off this letter?" She looked at it closely. The words were all separate letters cut out of magazines, with a letter missing here and there where someone had taken it for examination. It read:

_To whom it may concern:_

_What I do in my own time for my own amusement is my own business. Sticking your nose where it doesn't belong only gets you into trouble. The more you look into me, the faster I kill and the more personal it gets._

"The glue and paper are generic, no fingerprints, no hairs, no distinctive ink's. But I did find a gritty-substance caught in the glue under a 'B'." he pushed the microscope toward her. "Check this out."

She peered in the Microscope.

"Piscidia piscipula." Eric said matter of fact.

"Jamaica Dogwood? I don't see how this helps, this tree is everywhere in the Key's." she was disappointed, Eric was great and trace and she was hoping he'd find a case closer.

"Yeah. But," he said walking over to a map of South Florida, picking up a red marker. "All our victims were from, this area," he circled an area a little north of Dade county. "and their bodies were found largely in, this area," he circles an area west of Dade county. "He wouldn't have time to get to the Key's."

Calleigh sighed. "So he brought the leaf bits with him. At least we know where he's been..."

"Yeah," he speed-walked back to the lab table, switched the slides. "But check out this one. Found it under " He pushed the microscope back to her eagerly.

She looked in and murmured a few of the components. "Beach sand?" she asked.

"I ran it through Mass-spec, its only found in," he took quick strides back over to the map with the red marker un-capped again. "this area." he circled a small section of the Miami coast.

"Ok.." Calleigh nodded.

"So, I did a little research, and the closest Jamaica Dogwood trees are, here." he placed a dot close to the outer edge of the Miami coast circle.

"So at the least we found where he put the note together!" she beamed. "Eric, I love you! We have to find Horatio."

He was thankful his skin didn't blush, or when Calleigh said 'Eric, I love you!' clearly as a friend, he would have been red head to toe.

Calleigh had already started fast-walking toward the glass door when Eric noticed Horatio storming down the Hallway.

"Looks like he found _us_." Eric joked.

Horatio threw open the door, nearly hitting Calleigh.

"I need everyone in field, NOW!" he barked out barely opening the door, and he was already halfway down the hall before it closed again.

Calleigh and Eric exchanged a concerned look. They rarely heard his boss loose his soft, knowing voice, unless of course he was barking orders at criminals. They pulled off their lab coats, Eric grabbed his cell phone from the table and followed Calleigh out of the door, practically running to keep Horatio in sight, who was periodically giving out quick, loud commands to passer-by's.

Horatio snapped, "Wolfe!" as he passed a doorway.

Ryan stepped into the hallway, gloves on, first casting a confused glance at his bosses back, then watching Calleigh and Eric jogging after him.

"What's going on-" He asked as they starting getting close.

They didn't answer and Calleigh grabbed his wrist and started dragging him along.

Horatio glanced and nodded at someone who sat outside the interrogation rooms, near the elevator and impatiently pressed the down button.

Passing the interrogation rooms himself, Eric stopped.

Calleigh and Ryan took a few more strides toward the elevator before realizing Eric had stopped.

"What? Eric let's go." Calleigh cried after him.

Eric ignored him. He took a tentative step toward a woman on the waiting bench outside an interrogation room. Her head was in her hands and her body shook. Dangling from her wrist was a tiny _Dora the Explorer_ backpack. Her light brown curls tumbled down both sides of her head, covering her face, but when you grow up with someone, you know them anywhere.

"Mari?" he called softly, a little disbelieving.

Ryan looked at Calleigh. "Eric...?" she asked.

He indicated for them to go, and walked over to Marisol.

"Marisol." he called again.

This time she looked up, her mascara was streaked and her eyes were red. A damp tissue was clenched in her hand.

She answered with a choked sob.

"What? Where's Ella, Marisol?" he said it a little firmer then he wanted, but he needed to know.

Marisol looked away, ran a hand under her nose then turned back to Eric. "She's gone." Her face contorted in agony.

"Gone?" Eric sat next to Marisol, he didn't look her in the eye, but started at the little backpack.

"I signed her up for daycare when we were still in England so she'd be able to meet friends." she choked out. "Today I went to pick her up from her f-first day, and the careless, stupid, _bitch _owner said that her dad already picked her up. But Horatio d-didnt have her...I found this in the bushes," she weakly lifted her wrist with the backpack on it. "Then I called the police. Then we got th-this." she passed Eric a sheet of photo paper and wrapped her arms around herself sobbing.

It was a department taken picture of a letter. A letter with mismatching magazine letters forming the words:

_Don't Bother._


	5. the shack and the date

**A/N:**Aw I'm not getting any feedback anymore, I'm just hoping a bunch of people who aren't signed up are reading it. This chapter is a little fast paced.

**DISCLAIMER:** nothing belongs to be except Ella.

* * *

"Where are you?" Eric said in a empty voice as soon as Calleigh picked up her phone.

"We're on our way to the area you suggested," she hesitated. "Sweetie, are you ok?"

"No, Cal. Let's just find this guy, alright?"

"Ok, keep the station in your hummer clear, we'll beep you as soon as we get on location." she said gently.

Eric hung up the phone and took a deep breath. Marisol had begged him not to leave, she didn't want to be alone, and Horatio wouldn't have stayed either. He dropped her off at one of the women from her cancer support group's home and started speeding down the narrow suburban streets before he realized he didn't know where he was going.

On his way toward the location with the Jamaican dogwood's, he tried not to let his mind wander into the 'what if's'. What if the serial killer already left the area? What if Ella was already his latest fatality? What if their was no leads at the new location? Instead he tried to think of things that calmed him, Marisol laughing, his youngest niece Isobel's first steps which he had been there to witness, his oldest niece Katrina's graduation from kindergarten, Calleigh...

"Eric." Horatio's voice rang through the hummer.

Eric jumped a little but quickly released his vice grip on the steering wheel and grabbed the walki-talkie.

"H."

"Eric, we found a shack in the wooded area by the coast."

"Any sign of the killer?" he rushed.

"None. Recently abandoned."

"I'm close by. How far into the woods?"

"Not far. Quarter mile."

The radio static-ed as Horatio tuned out.

Finding the shack didn't prove to difficult. Horatio hadn't held back in calling in the many favors he had accumulated over the years. Before he had a family, he never had a need too, but according to the many blue and red lights visible through the trees, this time it was personal.

Eric's heart sank when he pulled into the clearing with the tiny rundown shack. ME's were working with gravediggers as they dug up a patch of dirt and bagged tiny white bones.

"Alexx..." Eric said softly as he approached the ME who was holding a small skull in her hand.

She sniffed once and looked at him with watery eye's. "Eric, can you imagine how many scared little babies spent their last moments here."

Eric's jaw clenched and Alexx regretted her words. "Oh, Eric..." she reached up and squeezed his hand.

"Not Ella." he said defensively.

"No baby, not Ella." she reassured him. "Now go get to work."

He nodded and went to find Calleigh to borrow gloves, he hadn't remembered to grab a field kit when he had seen Horatio in such a rush.

"Need gloves?" She practically read his mind as he approached her crouched low a low bush.

"Yeah...?"

"I grabbed gloves your size on the way out." she smiled, passing him a pair of rubber gloves, and other essentials.

"Thanks, Calleigh." He said sincerely. "Got anything?" he said nodding to the bush.

"Nothing yet, but Horatio and Ryan are looking inside. It's pretty messy." she said sadly.

"Right." he nodded and started walking away.

A small, over grown backyard led to the backdoor of the shack. A plastic blue kiddie pool took up most of its space, Eric's stomach knotted when he noticed dried blood smeared on the pool's rim. He crouched down and swabbed the blood, but something reflecting in the tall weeds caught his eye.

He quickly dropped the swab in an evidence bag and brushed the weed aside. His heart dropped as he picked up the small metal dog broken in the grass.

He fell into a sitting position and stared at the dog in his gloved hands. A lump formed in his throat. She was here, he had taken her here, and they had missed them. Eric felt his eye's sting, but he wouldn't cry, he hadnt even cried when he got shot. But this was different it wasn't physical pain...it was emotional.

"Eric?" a woman's voice said from behind him. He didnt turn around. "What's wrong how come you didn't go inside?"Calleigh asked as she got closer.

Eric held the dog up. "They were here." his voice broke a little, what would this do to Marisol if he couldn't bring Ella home to her?

Calleigh knelt next to him and dropped her hand on his arm. "That's good though, they have a head start, but not by much. And there's got to be trace on the dog, come on look on the bright-side." she nudged him a little.

Eric didn't say anything, he looked to the side. This case was personal, he never needed to find a child as much as he needed to find Ella. For Marisol's sake, for Horatio's sake, and for the sake of getting to know her.

Calleigh wrapped her arms around Eric's neck. "Come on, Eric." she smiled.

"Thanks Cal," He said finally. "For everything, seems like you just keep picking up all the slack." he let out a sad laugh.

"Yeah, well that's my job." she let go of his neck and smiled wider, pushing herself off the ground and offering Eric a hand.

He accepted. "Hey, when we get Ella back home, let's go out to dinner the 3 of us. We're her godparents after all." the lump in his throat was gone. It's amazing how someone nicknamed 'bullet girl' could give him so much hope.

"Huh," she smirked. "and will that lead to a dinner just the 2 of us?"

Eric smiled. "Yeah, maybe it would."

The just stood their for a second looking at each other before Eric realized how bad things were at that moment. "I gotta show H this."

"I've gotta go finish processing the outside of the shack."

Eric turned and walked toward the back door with a goofy smile plastered on his face.

"H." Eric said from the doorway, holding up the dog.

Horatio looked up and quickly strode across the room, taking the dog and looking it over.

"Eric, what do you see here?" Horatio pointed to a spot on the dog.

Eric squinted. "A fingerprint?" he asked.

"Yes, Eric, a fingerprint. And one far too large to belong to a little girl." Horatio motioned for someone to dust the dog for them.

"We could get a name." Eric said in disbelief.

"We could get a license plate." Horatio added, putting his sunglasses on and walking out of the cabin.


	6. NO

**A/N:**I don't like this chapter personally, i just needed someway to show this scene, I think the writing is awful. Review, constructive criticism is better then nothing. Thank you again to everyone who took the time to write a little review, and extra thanks to the people who put this story on their alert list.

**DISCLAIMER:**I own nothing except Ella, though i wish i owned more.

* * *

"Cal, you should go home." Eric mentioned around 11pm.

She opened her eyes widely to try and cover the sleepiness in them. Eric and Calleigh had stayed behind at the shack with a few ME's to process the crime scene. The shack was small, but there had been numerous murders there over the years and a lot of potential evidence.

"No, I'm fine really. Besides I'd rather sit in here and worry then sit at home and worry by my lonesome." she laughed and started working on transferring the shoe-print she had found in an upstairs bedroom.

Horatio ran the prints through CODIS and had gotten a hit, a man by the name of Karlos Bentivenia. He had been incarnated previously for stalking and breaking and entering. There was no registered vehicleas Horatio had hoped, but they had to be getting around somehow and he sent Karlos mugshot to every car-rental in the area. Karlos Bentivenia was currently the most wanted man in Florida, things got serious when faculty was involved.

"Fine. Then would you go pick up coffee's? I'm not sure how much longer _I'm _gonna last. It's 2 hours past my weekday bedtime." he joked.

Calleigh laughed and stood up. "Fine. Medium 4 sugars?" she asked, remembering.

"Medium 4 sugars." he confirmed.

"Don't get too much done without me." she touched him lightly on the shoulder and started leaving.

"I wouldn't do that to you. I mine as well get Wolfe back down here too."

Eric pulled a glove off and reached into his pocket.

"Delko?" Ryan answered with a yawn.

"Wolfe, you wanna get back down here?"

Ryan grunted. "I've only been asleep for an hour."

"You know we're working an on-call case, you should have gone to sleep as soon as you went home." Eric said seriously, he wasn't going to let Ryan sit home and sleep while his niece was missing.

"At six? The sun was still up!" Ryan complained.

"I don't care Wolfe, get down here. Calleigh and I aren't goingto do this all by ourselves." this phone call was taking longer then necessary, Ryan shouldn't be asking questions.

"Call Natalia then." he argued, but Eric could here him rustling through a drawer.

"She's working in the lab, and that's where we need her." Eric argued back.

"Fine, I'm on my way." Ryan snapped, hanging up the phone like a little kid.

Eric shook his head and sighed. Ryan and him were close friends now, but they were so opposite sometimes. He walked over to the bedroom window, he hadntprocessed it yet, and he could use some fresh air. Something caught his eye. Calleigh's hummer was still parked in the back of the shack. He looked back at the field kit to see if she had taken his keys instead, Calleigh usually took the hummer in the lesser condition to be poliet, but his were still there.

_Leave it to Calleigh to get caught up with 1st year ME's_. He thought smiling to himself.

Deciding he'd just go with her since Ryan was already on his way, he hopped down the narrow stairwell and out the front door. Looking around the front door into the make-shift cemetery where the ME students were working under bright white lights, he couldn't catch sight of Calleigh's blond hair.

He caught the attention of the nearest ME, "Hey, did you see Calleigh?" he asked.

"Yeah, she asked if we wanted coffee, then went outback to her car." she said, gesturing toward the back of the shack.

That wasn't right. Eric turned and started walking quickly back toward where Calleigh's hummer was parked. He placed a hand on his gun.

"Calleigh?" he called when the hummer came into sight.

No answer.

"Cal!" he called louder.

Still no answer.

Something really wasn't right. He pulled out his gun and a flashlight. He shined it in the window and saw nothing. Flashingit across the ground, something closer to the treeline reflected back at him. He walked over and picked up Calleigh's keys.

Eric's heart started beating faster, but he didn't want to seen paranoid. He took his cell phone out again and dialed Calleigh's number.

It rang in his ear once, twice but Eric knew Calleigh wouldn't pick up, she wasn't so careless as to leave a set of PD keys on the ground near the vehicle. Something from the woods reached his ears, then again. It took Eric a second to realize it was a phone ringing. He pressed end, and the sound ended as well.

Why would she go into the woods, and why wouldn't she answer unless something was wrong. Eric quickly concluded.

He launched himself into the forest, catching sight of footprints and drag marks.

"Calleigh!" he started shouting, gun drawn.

He started running down the trail of footprints through the wood, and a clearing was coming up and through it he could see two shadows.

"MDPD! FREEZE!" he shouted, clicking the safety off his gun.

The pair didn't stop, Eric prayed one of them was Calleigh, he was so close.

"STOP!" he shouted again, picking up speed despite the burning in his lungs.

He burst out the clearingonto a beach and caught sight of a man dragging a woman backward by her neck in the moonlight. A quick glance at the blond hair and a scream of, "ERIC DONT!" confirmed it was Calleigh being dragged.

"Calleigh!" he screamed. Why couldn't he get a clear shot at this guy!?

Two gunshots rang through the air and Eric was briefly caught off guard with flashbacks from his own almost fatal shooting. The pain. The darkness. He didn't want to ever have to experience it again..but Calleigh...

A searing pain on the side of his arm didn't stop him. The man threw Calleigh into a dark parked car and then climbed in after. Eric fired his gun at the car tires, but a metal ping-ingsounded and he realized he had missed. The car sped away with a earsplitting screech leaving Eric defeated on the beach. He fumbled to get his phone out of his pocket, and messed up the number to 911 twice.

"I HAVE AN ABDUCTED CSI! Potential connection to new serial killer. I need backup imediately!" He completely lost his composure. He could have stopped this.


	7. the ring

**A/N**: Ok first and foremost, Delko's girl offered to Beta my stories and I was going to let her, but I realized it would be a bad idea since im ridiculously impatient, so a big thanks to her anyway :D Also to the user's who have added my story to their alerts, I'll try to update quickly for you guys! Toward the end of the chapter, when Ryan is talking after he calls Alexx, and there's '...' in between the words, that's where he's waiting for Alexx to respond on the phone if anyone needs and explanation... Reviews are appreciated, I'm young and have time to fix silly writing mistakes for in the future.

ALSOOO, my parents just bought me Microsoft office for students (it's like $150, wtf!?) so I have microsoft word now , which means spell check! YAY! So hopefully it wont be that bad anymore

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except Ella.

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"I need a location, people!" Horatio yelled to the AV room, his voice tense.

Eric had been shadowing Horatio for the past 2 hours since Calleigh had been taken, it was now 1 am and everyone was tired, but no one was giving in to sleep. DNA had revealed, at 12am, that the serial killer and Calleigh's kidnapper were one in the same, now the difficult part lay in finding them.

Horatio walked past Eric quickly, and didn't disapprove when Eric followed directly behind him. Despite the horrific events of the day, Eric found comfort in his brother-in-laws commanding presence. The entire lab was bringing any scrap of information to him. Half of the patrol officers were out and about, closing roads, searching cars and even people who looked even remotely suspicious.

Horatio halted. Eric's face contorted in confusion as Horatio turned around, almost horrified. "Eric...when was the last time you seen Marisol?"

Eric's mind took a second to process his words, and another second to confirm the last time he had seen Marisol was when he had left to go to the shack hours ago, but after those two seconds, his body took over. Without a word to H he started sprinting toward the last place he had seen Mari.

Nothing.

He grabbed at his head, and bolted in the opposite direction toward the labs. Marisol usually went to find him there.

Still nothing.

Panic bubbled in his throat, but he fought it.

He burst into Horatio's office.

"Marisol." he breathed, in an agonized and equally relieve voice.

She stood up by the window, a coffee clutched in her hands and tear tracks on her face.

"Did you find something?" she asked with a glimmer of hope.

"No Mari, I'm sorry. I just...H and I hadn't seen or heard from you in a while. Stay close, ok? Don't leave the building...Calleigh...He got Calleigh too." he said looking away.

"Oh, Eric." she sighed, crossing the room to stand with him. "You care for her don't you...not just as a co-worker either, huh?" she rubbed his arm in affection.

He looked back up, fiercely. "Yeah...I do."

"You'll find her. You'll find both of them, I know it."

His phone beeped once and vibrated. He picked it up.

"Horatio." he mouthed to Marisol.

"It's alright, H. She was in your office." He said as Horatio tried to ask about Marisol without sounded worried.

"That's good, Eric...that's good. Tell her I'm sending someone to be with her until I can." Horatio sighed, the relief in his voice audible.

"Alright, H." Eric smirked, mainly to assure Marisol nothing was wrong without her having to ask.

"And, Eric. Hurry back to the lab, we're falling behind..." and he hung up.

"Mari, Horatio's sending someone to stay with you. He'll be up here soon. Call and check in occasionally?" He suggested, kissing her cheek and leaving.

Walking back toward the labs, Eric was aware that people were casting him sympathetic glances, or whispering sadly to their friends. A few even yawned and gave him a dirty look, mentally blaming him for them having to stay late.

"Anything new?" Eric asked, grabbing his lab coat and walking over to Ryan and Natalia. It didn't seem right without Calleigh standing there with the other CSI's...

"Nothing. I'm sorry Eric." Natalia answered.

Eric was about to pick up where another CSI, who had used a sick day just to go home, had left off when Horatio walked in. He scanned the room briefly, and walked straight toward the others when he spotted them.

"Mr. Wolfe, where is Alexx? I need her help with something..." he said, vaguely.

"Alexx?" Ryan asked, stupidly. "I think she's home..."

"That doesn't make sense..." Natalia frowned. "It's not like her to stay home at a time like this. Especially with Calleigh..."

Ryan shifted his weight onto another foot uncomfortably. "Well I didn't know we...that I should you know....it's late..."

"You didn't call her?" Eric said accusingly. Alexx was part of their team, who was Ryan to pick and choose who was informed of something. That was Horatio's job and Ryan was no Horatio.

"I didn't know I was promoted to 'secretary'!" Ryan said defensively.

"We can't change it now. Would you please get her on the phone now, Mr. Wolfe?" Horatio stepped in.

Ryan stared at Horatio for a second, and then pulled out his phone. "Hey Alexx?...No wait, wait! I know it's late!...No, not yet....Because..Calleigh's been taken. She-....around 11ish-" Ryan broke off and made a pained face as he moved the phone from his ear, they could hear Alexx's voice from the earpiece.

Eric and Natalia exchanged a bemused look; both deciding Ryan deserved Alexx's reprimand for not thinking to call her earlier. Eric would have done it himself, but he had been hurrying around behind Horatio since they had gotten back.

"Alexx, I don't really think knows a time to worry about fashion!..... Did Calleigh, uh have a ring on when she...uh on the beach?" Ryan asked Eric.

Eric knew the ring Ryan was talking about. It was a gift from Alexx to Calleigh for her birthday last year; it was a beautiful ring, silver with a pink sapphire in the middle and two black stones flanking it. Eric would have never thought to get her something like that. He thought back to being in the shack's upstairs bedroom with Calleigh had taken the ring off so it would tear her through the thin rubber gloves. But she had put it back on when she went to get...coffee...

"Yeah. Yeah she was wearing it." He told Ryan.

"Eric says she had it on...You should have mentioned that!...Ok! Alright! I made a mistake! Just hurry down Alexx, please." His voice changed into worry when he said the last sentence, but when he spoke back to the team, it was oozing with hope and excitement. "The ring Alexx gave Calleigh; it has a GPS censor in one of the onyx stones. She's coming now to activate it; we're going to find them." Ryan laughed hysterically, a little unbelieving.

Eric's heart soared, and his temper flared all at the same time. He should have called Alexx himself, earlier.


	8. Author Note ! ! !

Dear Readers,

**Big Apologies** ! I haven't written in a very long time but I assure you I'll finish my CSI: Miami fanfic, please don't give up on me !

I got sick in February (pneumonia, ugh.) so I stopped writing for a little bit, and by the time I got better I was like 'eh I don't really feel like writing today'. Thennnnnn, my laptop broke. It still is broken which is why I haven't written or anything. I hate using my parents computer to write because im always interrupted and what not. So ive been using my iTouch for internet and as anyone with an iTouch knows, you can upload on those things.

So to conclude, I will write and update whenever I can…namely whenever I have the house to myself!

Lots of love, thanks, and apologies,

Lilliem xo


	9. 4050 Grove Road

**A/N: Ok, so i haven't written since February, and this chapter definitely isn't what I'd call a 'great come back chapter', but it's not really a filler either, it's more like the 'rising action'. But look on the bright side, you only have a few more chapters and an epiloge left to endure my crappy writing. Review, maybe drop a PM letting me know something you'd like to see before the story ends or maybe a story idea you'd like to see in he future.**

* * *

"I still don't understand why I wasn't called." Alexx complained again, maneuvering herself so she could type around the AV tech.

"I'm sorry! It was late, you have a family!" Ryan tried to defend himself, weakly.

Alexx turned her eyes from the computer and glared at Ryan.

"Alexx, the GPS." Eric said annoyed. "Please." He added hastily as Alexx turned her glare on him.

She sighed and stepped back. "All set, give it a minute to pick up the signal."

The remaining team shifted and fidgeted, all eyes glued to the computer screen which read 'searching…' . Eric ran a hand down his face, this was the longest minute he could remember ever being in his life.

"Alexx, isn't bugging someone illegal?" Ryan asked, breaking the silence as the thought dawned on him.

Alexx glared at him again. "Not if the person knows about it."

"Calleigh knows the ring's a censor?"

"Yes." Alexx said, in a voice that really meant 'no.'

Horatio was already driving in the field. Even if he didn't know where he was going being in the field left them just _that much_ closer.

The computer beeped and Eric jumped forward, already pressing Horatio's speed dial button.

The phone barely rang once before Horatio picked up. "Where am I going, Eric?"

"4050 Grove Road," he said as he read it off the monitor for the first time himself, he heard Ryan rush out of the room, Natalia right behind him. "That's so close…" Eric said quietly to himself.

"I'm on my way there." Horatio said, hanging up.

"Come on." Alexx said, walking out of the room.

Eric quickly exited out of the GPS signal and followed behind Alexx at a brisk pace.

"What are you doing!" Eric shouted as Alexx took a turn off the main hall.

"Vests, Eric. I'm getting vests." She said soothingly coming out with an arm full of navy bulletproof vests.

Eric ground his teeth together. Granted, bulletproof vests were good precautions, but a painful throbbing ebbed into his throat at the thought of actually needing them. Plus the thought of Horatio, Natalia and Ryan all being on scene before him was irritating.

Alexx slipped her arms through the vest as she jogged down the hall trying to keep pace with Eric.

He glanced sideways at her, "Your not coming in…"

"Eric, I have medical training if I'm there and there is no ambulance, the hell I'm not going in." She said, the edge from earlier creeping back into her voice.

They took the elevator to the ground floor, not allowing anyone to get on and slow them down. Finally being behind the wheel of the hummer made Eric a little more relaxed, he flipped on the siren knowing now he had a pretty clear shot to 4050 Grove Road.

Dangerously, he maneuvered himself into a vest while his foot pressed down hard on the gas peddle.

"Alex, call Marisol. Fill her in." He ordered, tossing Alexx his cell phone and then pulling out his gun.

Using his wrists to steer, he reloaded his gun carefully putting the safety back on before sticking it back in his belt.

"Turn here, turn here!" Alexx shouted, the phone still to her ear.

He turned sharply, feeling two of the wheels lift up in protest. Alexx gasped, and Eric craned his neck to look around her at the house numbers.

Seeing the other two hummers he slammed on the breaks. The house they were parked in front of had boarded up windows and chipped paint, and a mailbox that read 4050 Grove Road in pealing white stickers.


	10. Shots Fired

**A/N**: Hey! I hope I still have readers out there :/ I've got to admit I have lost a little bit of interest in this story, but I'm still going to finish it to the best of my ability and then I plan on going back and polishing it up. So here you go, second to last chapter ( I think) and then an epilogue (which is my favorite, it's already written). The only reason why I think I've lost interest is because I havent watched CSI: Miami in a while and I feel like I've lost my sense for the characters and I'm worried about making them seem OOC, because there not supposed to be. I'm sorry I don't have a better reason for my hiatus :( but please try to review.

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Eric hastily got out of the Hummer, closing the door quietly with shaky hands to retain whatever element of surprise they had. Alexx began to open her door when Eric rounded on the other side of the truck.

"Look, Alexx," Eric said, shooting an anxious glance at the unwelcoming house in need of repairs behind him. A dark grey car sat in the driveway. The wound caused by a grazed bullet tingled as Eric remembered that whoever owned that car had shot at him. "You don't have any training, please just stay out here unless we call you."

Alexx opened her mouth to protest and Eric interrupted. "Please." He begged.

She nodded. "Don't do anything stupid, Eric." She told him, passing him an armful of the vests she had taken from the department.

Eric gave her a tight look, accepted the vests and took off toward the house. The door wasn't kicked in, and no windows were broken which indicated that Horatio and the others hadn't entered the house yet. He lowered his loaded gun into a defensive position and skillfully moved around the corner of the house.

There were sun faded tricycles on the side of the house and it made Eric's stomach turn slightly. A few limbless dolls were discarded in the overgrown grass, and a kiddy pool was up turned and sunken in. Swallowing bile, he pressed on, his heart beating painfully against his ribs.

He raised his gun slightly as he was about to round the corner of the house, into the backyard. Turning quickly, he came face to face with another human. He automatically raised his gun, breathing heavy.

Horatio stood, numbly staring down the barrel of Eric's department issued gun. Carefully, he put his hand on top of the gun and lowered it, Eric complied and dropped the gun back into a defensive position, his heart beating even harder.

Horatio's face was grim as he pressed a finger to his lips and motioned with his head for Eric to come around the back of the house.

Natalia and Ryan were speaking in hushed tones and gesturing out attack maneuvers hurriedly. Eric and Horatio approached them, Eric passed each of them a vest and pulled his own over his head.

"What's the plan, H?" Eric asked, tightening the Velcro straps on the vest.

"We checked the windows, there's no motion, but the basement windows are blacked out. Were going to go through the back." He said, already walking toward the ancient backdoor.

Eric followed closely behind him as his right hand man with Natalia and Ryan bring up the rear. Horatio tried to doorknob quietly with no luck. He looked at Eric and Eric nodded. Backing up, Eric kicked in the door and Horatio responded quickly, running down the steps.

"MDPD!" He yelled, his voice severe.

The steps down to the basement were wooden and dirty, cobwebs hung from the ceiling, but a faint light was coming up the steps.

Eric pounded down the steps after Horatio, gun raised. Everything that happened next took place in flashes.

Eric caught sight of the basement. A bare room with grey cement walls, lit by a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling and giving off orange light. A mattress was pushed against one wall and on it sat Ella. Her light brown curls tangled and her eyes puffy. Standing up next to the mattress was Calleigh.

"Horatio! No!" she shouted, her head snapping to look at something.

On the opposite side of the room was another set of steps, steps leading up to a doorway that most likely opened into the house. On top of those steps, surrounded by light was a figure. Coming from the figure was a laser light that landed lightly on Ella's skull.

A gunshot sounded and Eric watched Calleigh jump in front of Ella. Horatio shouted something and his gun fired three shots, followed by additional shots from Natalia, Ryan and to his surprise, Eric. He hadn't been aware of what was happening, despite being trained to react quickly, sometimes you brain just didn't comply. The figure in the doorway fell forward down the stairs.

Horatio jumped forward, skipping the last two steps and rushing toward Calleigh and Ella. Eric followed, his breathing erratic as he watched Calleigh's dirty white T-shirt turn black with blood.

"Daddy!" Ella cried, her arms turned upward. Tears were spilling out of her big blue eyes.

Horatio ran to the little girl, picking her up and burying her head into his shirt to shield her from the horror that surrounded her in the basement.

Eric knelt next to Calleigh, his pants soaking to the skin with blood that was pooling around her. He was aware of Ryan shouting into a walkie-talkie. Her eyes locked on his, they were pooling with tears. He looked down and saw the burnt bullet hole in the stomach of her shirt.

"Eric." Horatio said softly from above him, Ella still buried in his shirt.

Eric looked up, "Get her out of here. Send Alexx in. Now." He said sharply.

"It's going to be, OK. Calleigh, your going to be fine." Eric told Calleigh, placing his palm over the wound and pressing down firmly. She cried out and then placed her hand over Eric's.

He started to ramble, trying to reassure her. "It's going to be fine. It's going to be fine." He told her over and over again.

Calleigh never looked away from his eyes, and he never stopped looking back. Not even after her eyes had started to flutter close.


End file.
